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Cider Digest #1685
Subject: Cider Digest #1685, 11 January 2012
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1685 11 January 2012
Cider and Perry Discussion Forum
Contents:
Carbonated wine tax (Charles McGonegal)
Cider Classes / Workshops (Robert Benson)
How long will live yeast live in fermented cider? (denniswaller@comcast.net)
pH testing (Andrew Lea)
Re: bubble tax below 7% (Lauren Shepard)
Champagne and Regular Corker (Fable Farm)
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Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn
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Subject: Carbonated wine tax
From: Charles McGonegal <cpm@appletrue.com>
Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2012 17:23:45 -0600
With a TTB specialist? No.
But if you go back to the USC code that the CFR is based on, you'll find
that carbonated and sparkling wine taxes (they are different by process)
are based on 'less that 14%' abv. The lower bound is 1/2%, not 7%. And
if you read the Treasury Decision explaining the cider tax rate, you'll
find that cider is defined as still. It's also defined as still in the
definition portions of the CFR.
Sent from my iPhone
Charles McGonegal
AEppelTreow Winery
Artisan Cider & Spirits
(262)496-7508=
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Subject: Cider Classes / Workshops
From: Robert Benson <rwbenson_79@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2012 18:05:33 -0600
I have been experimenting with cider production on a small scale for about
two years and would like to attend a class or workshop to get additional
hands-on experience from an expert. My knowledge thus far has mainly been
acquired via several books on the subject (Lea, McKie, Proulx, etc). I am
planning to attend Peter Mitchell's Cider Academy class in WA this June,
but I would be grateful for any other suggestions anyone may have. My main
goal over the next few years is to start a small cidery in the midwest.
This is a great resource - thank you. Bob Benson, Greenfield Iowa
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Subject: How long will live yeast live in fermented cider?
From: denniswaller@comcast.net
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2012 16:35:41 +0000 (UTC)
I have begun to store fermented cider (~ 6.5% ABV) ? in glass carboys with
an airlock and very little headspace in a dark basement room for up to a
year. I carbonate the cider by adding a small amount of sugar to a Quoin
"party pig" before filling the pig with fermented cider. It is carbonated
within three months . My question:? ? H ow long can I store the fermented
cider in the glass carboys and still have enough live yeast to ferment the
sugar added for carbonation: six months for certain but will yeast be alive
after nine months, a year, two years ??? I ferment primarily with Co tes des
Blancs, but I have also used EC1118 and on occasion Pasteur Champagne Yeast.
------------------------------
Subject: pH testing
From: Andrew Lea <andrew@harphill.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:36:24 +0000
Michael Billingsley wrote:
> I recently was at WSU for Peter Mitchell's cider class. In a
> class of maybe 25 students we tested our juice with strips and then
> compared our reading with the reading from a meter. All the results were
> very accurate except for maybe two students who had readings that were off
> by a significant amount.
I don't understand that. Are you saying there were 25 replicate tests
done on ONE juice or 25 tests on 25 separate juices? If there was only
one juice tested, even 25 times, it doesn't really tell us anything. Did
the two students with different readings have issues eg with colour
vision? What was the colour change on the strips - yellow to blue or
red to orange?
> I cannot however remember the brand of the strips.
That is a shame because there is evidence that strips vary in their
accuracy by manufacturer. Can you find out?
Andrew Lea
nr Oxford, UK
www.cider.org.uk
------------------------------
Subject: Re: bubble tax below 7%
From: Lauren Shepard <lauren@sheltonbrothers.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2012 11:17:53 -0700
I imagine there will be plenty of responses to Nat West's questions about
the bubble tax, as it is a bit of a sore subject in the US cider world
right now. Unfortunately the answer is yes - any cider, regardless of ABV,
that has over 3.92 g/l must pay the sparkling tax rate.
If you refer to the original rule, it's all laid out in pretty clear terms:
http://www.ttb.gov/rrd/tdatf398.htm
More specifically, here's an excerpt from the above link:
"Definition of Hard Cider
The statutory language describes ``hard cider'' eligible for the
new tax rate as ``derived primarily from apples or apple concentrate
and water, containing no other fruit product, and containing at least
one-half of 1 percent and less than 7 percent alcohol by volume.''
In this temporary rule, ATF defines hard cider as wine derived
primarily from apples or apple concentrate and water (apple juice, or
the equivalent amount of concentrate reconstituted to the original brix
of the juice prior to concentration, must represent more than 50
percent of the volume of the finished product); containing no other
fruit product nor any artificial product which imparts a fruit flavor other
than apple; containing at least one-half of 1 percent and less than 7
percent alcohol by volume; having the taste, aroma, and characteristics
generally attributed to hard cider, and sold or offered for sale as
hard cider and not as a substitute for any other alcohol product.
First, this definition specifies that hard cider is a still wine,
as required by a recent amendment to the IRC by section 6009 of the
Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, Pub. L.
105-206...."
At several meetings of cidermakers from across the US, at CiderDays
and in Oregon last year, it has been acknowledged that getting this
'bubble tax' removed from cider is a priority among cidermakers.
Cheers,
Lauren Shepard
Shelton Brothers Importers
------------------------------
Subject: Champagne and Regular Corker
From: Fable Farm <fablefarm@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2012 13:23:26 -0800
I'm looking to purchase a versatile corker that can do both champagne and
regular corks for ciders and wines. I'm interested if anyone has some
advise as to which style or brand to look into. I would be using it on a
small comercial scale.
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End of Cider Digest #1685
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